Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Name: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
Series: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #1
Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Publisher: Seven Seas
Format: Kindle
Genres: Chinese Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ+

Rating:

Synopsis: Goodreads
Wei Wuxian was once one of the most outstanding men of his generation, a talented and clever young cultivator who harnessed martial arts, knowledge, and spirituality into powerful abilities. But when the horrors of war led him to seek a new power through demonic cultivation, the world’s respect for his skills turned to fear, and his eventual death was celebrated throughout the land.

Years later, he awakens in the body of an aggrieved young man who sacrifices his soul so that Wei Wuxian can exact revenge on his behalf. Though granted a second life, Wei Wuxian is not free from his first, nor the mysteries that appear before him now. Yet this time, he’ll face it all with the righteous and esteemed Lan Wangji at his side, another powerful cultivator whose unwavering dedication and shared memories of their past will help shine a light on the dark truths that surround them.

Review:

This isn’t my usual read, this is way out of my comfort zone… It was picked for me to read by my friend Wendy who has been reading and loving this series (and fan fiction for it) for what feels like as long as I have known her. She loves it, and so naturally when the prompt jar gave her an option to have me read something of her choosing, she chose this. However, this was back in February and I was not able to concentrate on this at all.

This is a chinese MxM fantasy romance, and that meant that there are a lot of things I was questioning and unable to wrap my head around as just a casual read (mostly the naming situation / conventions). So I soft DNF’d it (put it on pause!) and said I would come back to it on a free weekend or the next time I had time off work… She waited ‘patiently’, and teased me relentlessly over it, and at long last the Easter bank holidays arrived! And the second chance began.

I loved our characters. Not even just the main characters, just the cast in general. What really stood out to me with Grandmaster, was the relationships different characters have – all of these characters are across different clan’s of Cultivators, which means they have different rules and personalities that have been honed by their clan’s… And I loved it. The Cultivators – in a very basic sense – deal with the supernatural that is plaguing the land (think corpses rising, think ghosts, think posession, think…Supernatural? It kind of fits)

The chapters are very long, however, which is difficult for a lot of readers. It’s bonus was each chapter almost felt like it was the blueprints for a show – it was contained enough that there could be a cliffhanger ending but there was a story line weaving through all chapters – the case of what I have dubbed the evil arm. So, that did help the long chapters.

By the final chapter, I found that I was mostly wrapped up in the strained relationship between our two main characters who were trying to solve the evil arm situation, that the mystery almost became background noise to me. I almost lowered the rating for that, but I get the impression that you are supposed to care more about the characters so I stuck with the 4 star.

I will continue this series, I think! Because the slow start of this slow burn romance I think is going to be amazing once it hits! So, there you go Wendy! You can say I finally read a recommendation from you and actually enjoyed it!!!

“If you walk the night road too often, sooner or later, you’ll run into ghosts.”

Reading With Tyler